‘Electoral’ deficit down 30% over January-February 2012

An increase of €74.4 million in recurrent revenue outweighed the added expenditure of €27.6 million, resulting in a reduction of €46.7 million in the government deficit.

The deficit for the two months of January and February was 30.6% lower than the same period in 2012, after government lost a Budget vote in December 2012, and was Constitutionally constrained to limit all possible spending throughout the elections to 30% of ministerial votes.

During January-February 2013, recurrent revenue stood at €437.0 million, up by 20.5 per cent over last year. This increase was mainly due to higher proceeds from Grants (+€47.5 million), Income Tax (+€29.7 million) and Social Security (+€11.0 million). These were partially offset by lower returns from Value Added Tax by €13.1 million.

Compared to 2012, total expenditure amounted to €540.9 million, up by 5.4 per cent, as a result of added outlays on recurrent and capital expenditure.

Recurrent expenditure advanced by €11.9 million. This was mainly triggered by higher outlays on programmes and initiatives as a result of added spending on medicines and surgical materials (+€7.6 million), social security state contributions (+€3.8 million), which also feature as revenue, EU own resources (+€2.1 million) and social security benefits (+€1.3 million).

These were partly outweighed by lower expenditure on street lighting by €3.6 million. Moreover, personal emoluments went up by €6.8 million whereas contributions to government entities and operational and maintenance expenditure declined by €4.0 million and €2.9 million respectively.

Expenditure on government's capital projects was registered at €72.7 million. The increase of €15.5 million over the corresponding period in 2012 includes an equity injection of €30 million to the national air carrier, up from €20 million last year.

An increase in capital outlays was also recorded in road construction improvements and in EU funded expenditure on agriculture, by €3.7 million and €3.4 million respectively. On the other hand, investment incentives went down by €2.8 million.

During the period under review, the interest component of the public debt servicing costs increased marginally to €36.2 million.

At the end of February, Central Government debt stood at €4,782 million, up by €82.8 million over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher short-term and long-term borrowing, which added €95.3 million and €15.5 million respectively. On the other hand, foreign borrowing went down by €12.4 million. Moreover, as a result of consolidation, higher holdings by government funds in MGSs resulted in a reduction of €20.7 million. The euro coins issued in the name of the Maltese Treasury went up by €5.1 million when compared to the coin stock as at the end of February 2012, and totalled €50.2 million.